Ex-players Henson and Charvis in brain injury case

Former Wales stars Gavin Henson and Colin Charvis are among 295 ex-players suing the rugby authorities over brain injuries, it has emerged.

The High Court heard on Friday that an application for the cases to be heard collectively would be made next year.

The application by the athletes' lawyers may be heard in April or May.

It would allow all the lawsuits against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) to be managed together.

Ex-players across Wales, Scotland and England are part of the case, including Wales' Grand Slam-winning captain Ryan Jones and England's Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson.

Mark Regan and Phil Vickery, members of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team, and Sean Lamont, who won more than 100 caps for Scotland, were also named as being part of the group.

The claimants allege the governing bodies failed to put in place reasonable measures to protect their health and safety.

Susan Rodway, representing them, said in court filings the defendants "ought to have known of the likelihood of long-term neurological complications due to cumulative concussive or sub-concussive blows to the head".

This alleged failure is said to have caused disorders such as motor neurone disease, early onset dementia, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

Some cases, she added, where players are suing for loss of earnings and the cost of future care, could be valued in tens of millions of pounds.

World Rugby, the RFU and WRU did not address the merits of the lawsuits at Friday's hearing, but are defending the claims.

They said this week they could not comment on the case or contact players as they had not received full details of the claims.

"We would want players involved to know that we listen, we care and continue to champion player welfare as the sport's number one priority," they said.

They said the sport was as safe as possible and led by "the latest science".

The rugby union case is one of three similar cases brought by law firm Rylands Garth, which also represents former rugby league and football players.